Victory
by that bloke
Summary: As the Reapers are destroyed across the galaxy once and for all, how do the various faces of the war react?
1. Chapter 1

_**Sword Fleet, Earth Orbit, final moments of the Reaper War:**_

Admiral Hackett stood on the bridge of his Alliance dreadnought, right in the command centre of the entire war effort against the Reapers. Out of the window he could see Earth on fire, Reapers around him, the Fleets fighting back. The Crucible had docked with the Citadel, and all remaining ships were protecting it briliantly, but nothing was happening. His ship was taking damage like every other one and couldnt hold out much longer, the grim truth was that the Allied Fleet never stood a chance against the Reaper Fleet. The Crucible was their game-changer, their trump card. And it wasnt working. All around him, people were running up and down the bridge, taking readings, communicating with the Fleet, monitoring the Crucible. It all came down to this. Victory or bust. If the Crucible failed now, they were all extinct. There was no way they could build another one, this one alone had drained their resources and was still technologically ahead of them. Hackett was so desperate now he was gripping the main console on the bridge hard enough that his knuckles were white.

"Sir, what do we do?" an officer panicked

"I don't know!" Hackett shouted, which told everyone something was wrong: Hackett ALWAYS kept his calm attitude.

_Come on Shepard! Where are you?! _He thought. Everyone knew he was up there somewhere, he'd told the fleets that someone had made it to the Citadel and everyone had assumed it was Commander Shepard, a testament to the mans reputation. But where was he now? Dead? Injured?

"Sir, we wont be able to stay here for more than a few minutes, we need to issue a tactical retreat!" another crewman said.

"No we stay the course! We protect that machine for as long as physically possible and then we protect it some more, do you understand me?!" Hackett yelled. He looked through the window and saw three turian dreadnoughts taken out by a Reaper Capitol Ship, as his own ship was rocked by several explosions.

"No!" Hackett said to himself, his voice strained, "every time we get presented with an advantage, it gets taken away!" it was agonizingly irritating to think about and was so... _unfair. _

And just when all hope was lost, as Hackett was considering that unthinkable retreat, it happened. The Crucible "switched on". What Hackett could only assume was the "firing chamber", the spherical section that was connected to the base of the Citadel, was glowing red.

"Jones! Tell me what that is, now!" He yelled to one of the crewman responsible for monitoring the Crucible from the ship.

"Sir, I... I dont believe it! If these numbers are right the Crucible is generating an enormous amount of dark energy, enough to completely destroy the Reapers. And its still climbing!" He said with disbelief.

"Shit... He did it" Hackett said quietly "The son-of-a-bitch did it!" he could almost jump for joy, and he wasnt the only one, the whole bridge was cheering.

"Steady now, crew, we're not done yet" He pressed the intercom and broadcast to the Fleets:

"All Fleets, the Crucible is armed! Disengage and head to the rendezvous point. I repeat: disengage and get the Hell out of here!" He said to every ship.

"Sir, these readings are now going off the charts" Jones said "The Crucible will destroy the Reapers, but the stress will be too much for it and the Citadel, the Crucible will explode, and the station will most likely rip itself apart."

That meant Shepard will die. Hackett's moment of triumph also meant leaving a friend to die.

"Admiral, orders?" one of his officers said. Hackett sighed.

"Head... for the rendezvous point."

"Aye-aye" The ship spun round and jumped into FTL with the rest of the Fleet. The Mars blueprints had shown that whatever the Crucible would do would use the Mass Relays so their get-out plan was to rendezvous several light years away from Earth in another part of the Local Cluster. As they jumped Hackett looked out the window at the Citadel, arms spread out like a five-point star, a read wave of energy being released from the station.

And then they jumped.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hammer Ground Forces, London:_**

Tom Fleming was with his friends on the streets of London, taking cover from the Reaper troops overwhelming them. He could see Big Ben from his position, two enormous Reaper Capitol Ships behind it. Fleming wasnt part of the military, not officially anyway. He had been an trainee mechanic when the Reapers invaded, he was only 18 years old. Him and many more like him had taken up arms to fight the Reapers, he was part of the London Resistance. Civilians that couldnt evacuate the city had been living in the old London Underground subway system. The tunnel network under the city had been around for hundreds of years, it had even served a similar purpose during the Second World War. Fleming peered over cover and had a look, more Reaper ground troops were advancing. They had been heading to the Conduit when Major Coats had issued a full retreat, Harbinger itself had appeared and wiped out over half of Hammer. Coats was something of a badass to the London Resistance, everyone had heard the story of how he survived three days in Big Ben's clocktower with nothing but a sniper rifle and a wounded leg, so if he said it was time for a retreat, then they were losing badly. About a minute later Coats had come back over the comm, stating that Commander Shepard had been confirmed to be alive and had made it to the beam, and that their new orders were to "give the Reapers hell until Shepard blows the fuckers up". So here they were, one massive diversion, keeping the Reapers busy.

On the other side of the street, Fleming's best friend Harry was taking cover in a ruined pharmacy shop. This was the most fighting they had ever done, Fleming was starting to lose it now. There was no way out of this, too many Cannibals and Marauders on all sides. He considered making a run for the Underground, there was an entrance a few meters down the road, he had to make sure the Reapers didnt get to the civilians down there too. But he couldn't make it without getting shot. Just when he thought it couldnt get any worse a Reaper Destroyer landed in the nearby, getting ready to fire.

"OH just give us a FUCKING break!" Fleming yelled, throwing his last grenade at a Ravager that was trying to kill him.

"Tom, I'm all out of thermal clips!" Harry yelled, where his other friends were, he could only guess.

"I'm down to my last one!" Fleming yelled back. _Well, _he thought, _looks like we're going out fighting, better this then indoctrination. _He almost considered taking his own life in case the Reapers captured them.

Then it happened.

Something in the sky was glowing red. Getting brighter and brighter. Then he saw it was a red wave of what looked like energy. Even the Destroyer had turned round to look at it. It engulfed the two Reapers behind Big Ben, then Big Ben itself, then the Destroyer, then it overtook the street Fleming was on. He braced himself, expecting it to kill him but... nothing. It just felt like a blast of heat. The Reaper ground troops around him had been completely obliterated. He looked up at the Reapers, The two Capitol Ships were standing there, flickering, with red electrical discharges moving all over them. Then all their lights went out.

And they collapsed.

It seemed to happen in slow motion, they fell over, hitting the deck with a thud that rocked the whole city, even the Destroyer was laying in the River Thames, dead. Fleming could hardly believe it. He stood up and looked around, lost for words. Harry stood up too and didnt know what to do. His other friends came out from where they were positioned. For a moment they all just looked at each other, before looking out at the dead Reapers again.

Then they started screaming in triumph.

Laughing, cheering, hugging, jumping in the air. Other soldiers were coming out too, all cheering and shouting. Some were even firing their weapons in the air.

"We did it!"

"Its over!"

"Burn you bastards!"

Then they all started shouting one name in unison together:

_"Shepard!" _

All across the city, people were shouting his name, a tribute to the man who had set them all free. Fleming then realized he had to tell the civilians in the Underground. He ran down into the tunnels, some were already making their way out, curious what had made that thud.

"Fleming! whats going on? Whats happening?" one of the refugees asked.

"Its over! the wars over, he did it!" Fleming shouted, making his way deeper into the tunnels, spreading the message. Others were starting to tell each other the news, people were cheering and making their way upstairs.

"We won!, Shepard did it!"

"The Reapers are destroyed!"

People were crying with joy, hugging their loved ones, they were all finally free, after months of running, gunning, and trying to stay alive, it was finally all over.

Thanks to one man.


End file.
